Matlab Commands List

The following list of commands can be very useful for future reference. Use "help" in
Matlab for more information on how to use the commands.
In these tutorials, we use commands both from Matlab and from the Control Systems
Toolbox, as well as some commands/functions which we wrote ourselves. For those
commands/functions which are not standard in Matlab, we give links to their
descriptions. For more information on writing Matlab functions, see the function page.
Note:Matlab commands from the control system toolbox are highlighted in red.
Non-standard Matlab commands are highlighted in green.
Command
abs
acker
axis
bode
c2dm
clf
conv
ctrb
deconv
det
dimpulse
dlqr
dlsim
dstep
eig
eps
feedback
figure
for
format

Description
Absolute value
Compute the K matrix to place the poles of A-BK, see also place
Set the scale of the current plot, see also plot, figure
Draw the Bode plot, see also logspace, margin, nyquist1
Continuous system to discrete system
Clear figure (use clg in Matlab 3.5)
Convolution (useful for multiplying polynomials), see also deconv
The controllability matrix, see also obsv
Deconvolution and polynomial division, see also conv
Find the determinant of a matrix
Impulse response of discrete-time linear systems, see also dstep
Linear-quadratic requlator design for discrete-time systems, see also lqr
Simulation of discrete-time linear systems, see also lsim
Step response of discrete-time linear systems, see also stairs
Compute the eigenvalues of a matrix
Matlab's numerical tolerance
Feedback connection of two systems.
Create a new figure or redefine the current figure, see also subplot, axis
For, next loop
Number format (significant digits, exponents)

function
grid
gtext
help
hold
if
imag
impulse
input
inv
jgrid
legend
length
linspace
lnyquist1
log
loglog
logspace
lqr
lsim
margin
norm
nyquist1
obsv
ones
place
plot
poly
polyadd
polyval
print
pzmap
rank
real
rlocfind
rlocus

Creates function m-files

Draw the grid lines on the current plot
Add a piece of text to the current plot, see also text
HELP!
Hold the current graph, see also figure
Conditionally execute statements
Returns the imaginary part of a complex number, see also real
Impulse response of continuous-time linear systems, see also step, lsim, dlsim
Prompt for user input
Find the inverse of a matrix
Generate grid lines of constant damping ratio (zeta) and settling time (sigma), see
also sgrid, sigrid, zgrid
Graph legend
Length of a vector, see also size
Returns a linearly spaced vector
Produce a Nyquist plot on a logarithmic scale, see also nyquist1
natural logarithm, also log10: common logarithm
Plot using log-log scale, also semilogx/semilogy
Returns a logarithmically spaced vector
Linear quadratic regulator design for continuous systems, see also dlqr
Simulate a linear system, see also step, impulse, dlsim.
Returns the gain margin, phase margin, and crossover frequencies, see also bode
Norm of a vector
Draw the Nyquist plot, see also lnyquist1. Note this command was written to
replace the Matlab standard command nyquist to get more accurate Nyquist plots.
The observability matrix, see also ctrb
Returns a vector or matrix of ones, see also zeros
Compute the K matrix to place the poles of A-BK, see also acker
Draw a plot, see also figure, axis, subplot.
Returns the characteristic polynomial
Add two different polynomials
Polynomial evaluation
Print the current plot (to a printer or postscript file)
Pole-zero map of linear systems
Find the number of linearly independent rows or columns of a matrix
Returns the real part of a complex number, see also imag
Find the value of k and the poles at the selected point
Draw the root locus

roots
rscale

Find the roots of a polynomial

Find the scale factor for a full-state feedback system
Set(gca,'Xtick',xticks,'Ytick',yticks) to control the number and spacing of tick
set
marks on the axes
series
Series interconnection of Linear time-independent systems
Generate grid lines of constant damping ratio (zeta) and natural frequency (Wn),
sgrid
see also jgrid, sigrid, zgrid
sigrid
Generate grid lines of constant settling time (sigma), see also jgrid, sgrid, zgrid
size
Gives the dimension of a vector or matrix, see also length
sqrt
Square root
ss
Create state-space models or convert LTI model to state space, see also tf
ss2tf
State-space to transfer function representation, see also tf2ss
ss2zp
State-space to pole-zero representation, see also zp2ss
stairs
Stairstep plot for discreste response, see also dstep
step
Plot the step response, see also impulse, lsim, dlsim.
subplot
Divide the plot window up into pieces, see also plot, figure
text
Add a piece of text to the current plot, see also title, xlabel, ylabel, gtext
tf
Creation of transfer functions or conversion to transfer function, see also ss
tf2ss
Transfer function to state-space representation, see also ss2tf
tf2zp
Transfer function to Pole-zero representation, see also zp2tf
title
Add a title to the current plot
Returns the bandwidth frequency given the damping ratio and the rise or settling
wbw
time.
Add a label to the horizontal/vertical axis of the current plot, see also title, text,
xlabel/ylabel
gtext
zeros
Returns a vector or matrix of zeros
Generates grid lines of constant damping ratio (zeta) and natural frequency (Wn),
zgrid
see also sgrid, jgrid, sigrid
zp2ss
Pole-zero to state-space representation, see also ss2zp
zp2tf
Pole-zero to transfer function representation, see also tf2zp